The New York Times published an article detailing some of the many foreign business entanglements of the Trump Organization. Donald Trump has claimed, bizarrely echoing Richard Nixon, that a president cannot have a conflict of interest no matter what they do. That isn’t right. That is not normal. Presidents in modern times have divested business… Read More »

The Tuesday following Thanksgiving is emerging as Giving Tuesday, a national day of charity and generosity at the beginning of the holiday season. On this Giving Tuesday — November 29, 2016 — please consider supporting NCSE and its important work to defend the integrity of science education by donating generously. (Your donations, as always, are tax-deductible!) And please share the appeal with your friends and family.

The Guardian in reporting Donald Trump’s election said the USA was heading into the political unknown. As Trump maneuvers the transitional ship-of-state, though, the exploration will turn the unknown into the known. Most of the time, transitions are dull as dishwater, producing little in the way of novelty. This one, though, is doing things never… Read More »

On November 14, 2016, the Supreme Court declined (PDF, p. 2) to review COPE et al. v. Kansas State Board of Education et al., thus bringing the case to a decisive end. At issue was Kansas's adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, which, according to the plaintiffs-appellants, "establish[ed] and endorse[d] a non-theistic religious worldview" in violation of the Constitution.

“Liaoning scene” by Emily Willoughby. Guest post by Jonathan Kane. Mr. Kane describes himself as an “armchair paleontologist” who worked as an intern at the New Jersey State Museum under natural-history curator David C. Parris from 2001 to 2005. He is the lead author of God’s Word or Human Reason? An Inside Perspective on Creationism, coauthored by Emily Willoughby and T. Michael Keesey, shortly to be published by Inkwater Press. A major focus of...
Matt Young
http://www.mines.edu/~mmyoung

I note that estimable source of journalism on American politics today, UK’s The Guardian, on the outcome of the US presidential election. Donald Trump shattered expectations on Tuesday with an election night victory that revealed deep anti-establishment anger among American voters and set the world on a journey into the political unknown. Good morning and… Read More »

The Times is more polite than I am; today it ran an article Doubts about the promised bounty of genetically modified crops, by Danny Hakim. Well, I read the article and looked more closely at the supporting material, Broken promises of genetically modified crops, by Karl Russell and Danny Hakim, and I frankly have no doubts. As Mr. Hakim writes, An analysis by The Times using United Nations data showed that the United States and...
Matt Young
http://www.mines.edu/~mmyoung

If you don’t know about this year’s CSICON, check it out! There are several evolution-related talks, including Richard Dawkins (4:00 Friday Oct. 28th), Eugenie Scott (9:00 AM Saturday, Oct. 29th, “Sins of Evolution Education”) and Bertha Vazquez (9:30 AM Sat., “The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES)”). There is a paper session on Sunday, October 30th. At 9:45 AM I’ll be presenting “ War of the Weasels: An Update on Creationist Attacks on Genetic...
Dave Thomas
http://www.nmsr.org

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos – American white pelican, Walden Ponds, Boulder, Colorado, July 16, 2016. Mea culpa: The birds were just beyond the limit of my equipment, but this was the first time I recall seeing pelicans so late in the season and certainly the first time I have seen a juvenile. It may be sampling error – I do not visit Walden Ponds every week – but I wonder whether they are changing their migration...
Matt Young
http://www.mines.edu/~mmyoung

Jason Rosenhouse is calling it a day. His EvolutionBlog is ceasing publication. Jason is one of the veterans in the evolution/creationism wars, dating back to his postdoc at Kansas State around 14 years ago, when he got involved with the Kansas Board of Education’s efforts to pollute the teaching of biology with creationism. While Jason blogged on other topics–chess, religion, math–for our purposes here let it be remarked that Jason is one of the most...
Richard B. Hoppe

Dan Phelps, who visited the Ark Park on opening day, has published a longer account, Kentucky Gets an Ark-Shaped Second Creation “Museum” on the website of the National Center for Science Education. The article has lots of detail and many more interesting pictures than we ran on PT. One section that especially amused me was the Ark Park’s attack on what you might call cutesy children’s books that tell the Noah story – which Mr....
Matt Young
http://www.mines.edu/~mmyoung

RSS Syndication

Antievolutionists Say the Darndest Things

Antievolutionists often express outrage over alleged incivility from those who oppose their efforts to evade the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But they have no difficulty in dishing out the abuse themselves. Here is a sample from the Invidious Comparisons thread that documents egregious behavior on the part of the religious antievolution advocates.

Darwinian evolution with its blind watchmaker thesis makes me think of a great battleship on the ocean of reality. Its sides are heavily armored with philosophical barriers to criticism, and its decks are stacked with big rhetorical guns ready to intimidate any would-be attackers. In appearance, it is as impregnable as the Soviet Union seemed to be only a few years ago.